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The UK bottled water industry releases 350,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.

One of Britain's leading authorities on water supplies has branded the bottled water industry a scam, backing campaigners' claims of wasted millions and environmental pollution at a time when tap water standards have never been higher.

Professor Paul Younger, Rankine Chair of Engineering at Glasgow University, has highlighted growing fears that our increasing consumption of bottled water is damaging the environment while raising huge profits for the big brands, despite Britain having one of the best mains water supplies in the world.

The product continues to attract buyers in increasing numbers. Last year was the most profitable ever for the UK's largest manufacturer of sparkling water, Highland Spring, reflecting what has become a remarkable British success story for the bottled water industry.

But Prof Young, widely respected as a specialist in water resources and groundwater engineering, and currently Chair of the Global Scientific Committee of the Planet Earth Institute, said he was concerned that people were "forsaking the wonderfully clean and rigorously tested upland waters that flow from our taps, in favour of water in plastic bottles".